Elijah prayed for rain during a severe drought. After sending his servant to look for signs of rain seven times, the servant saw a small cloud forming over the sea. Soon heavy rain fell, ending the drought. Nehemiah, though a cupbearer to a foreign king, wanted to help rebuild Jerusalem's walls. God arranged for Nehemiah to get permission from the king to return and oversee the project. Despite threats from enemies, the walls were completed in just 52 days due to Nehemiah's leadership and inspiration of the workers. Jesus told a parable of a persistent widow who convinced an unjust judge to resolve her case, teaching that God will surely answer the prayers of his people who cry out

2. Elijah Prays for Rain
The Old Testament prophet Elijah prayed for rain when there had been a severe drought in the land of
Israel for three and a half years. Then Elijah said to his servant, “Go up higher and look toward the sea.”
Elías ora por
lluvia
En el Antiguo
Testamento, el
profeta Elías
oró para que
lloviera en un
tiempo en que
Israel era
azotado por
una sequía
que duraba ya
tres años y
medio. Luego
le dijo a su
sirviente: —Ve
y mira hacia el
mar.

3. The servant went and looked. He came back and said, “I saw nothing.”
Elijah told him to go look again. This happened seven times. The seventh time, the servant came
back and said, “I saw a small cloud the size of a man’s fist that was coming in from the sea.”
After a short time the sky was covered with dark clouds. The wind began to blow, and a heavy rain
began to fall.
Su sirviente fue a
mirar, y regresó donde
estaba Elías y le dijo: —
No vi nada.
Siete veces le dijo
Elías que fuera a ver.
Finalmente, la séptima
vez, su sirviente le dijo:
—Vi una pequeña
nube, como del tamaño
de la mano de un
hombre, que sale del
mar.
Poco después el cielo
se oscureció de nubes.
Se levantó un fuerte
viento que desató un
gran aguacero.

4. Nehemías
Nehemías era el copero
de un rey extranjero. Su
profundo deseo, no
obstante, era ayudar a
su pueblo. Dios dispuso
entonces las
circunstancias para que
Nehemías estuviera en
el palacio en el
momento indicado
para tener una
conversación con el rey,
quien luego le dio
permiso para regresar
a Jerusalén y
reconstruir los muros
derruidos por las
invasiones extranjeras.
Nehemiah
Nehemiah was the cupbearer for a foreign king. His heart, however, was to help his own people. So God
set it up so that he would be in the palace at the right time to have a chat with the king, who then gave
him permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls that had crumbled due to foreign
occupations.

5. Nehemiah inspired people to help him and get the work started, but the Israelites had a lot of enemies
who didn’t want the walls rebuilt and constantly threatened them.
People got discouraged, saying, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble
that we cannot rebuild the wall.” Their enemies were also taunting them, “Before they know it or see us,
we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” The people who lived
near the construction site kept warning, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
Nehemías estimuló a su gente para que lo ayudara a dar inicio a la reconstrucción; pero los israelitas tenían
muchos enemigos a los que no les
interesaba que se reedificaran los
muros de Jerusalén y que los
amenazaban constantemente.
La gente se desanimaba y decía: —
Los cargadores desfallecen, pues
son muchos los escombros; ¡no
vamos a poder reconstruir esta
muralla! Además, sus enemigos los
hostigaban: —Les caeremos por
sorpresa y los mataremos; así
haremos que la obra se suspenda.
La gente que vivía en los
alrededores les advertía una y otra
vez: —Los van a atacar por todos
lados.

6. So Nehemiah set up guards to protect the builders and he gave them a pep talk, saying, “Don’t be afraid of
them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your
daughters, your wives and your homes.”
Thanks to Nehemiah’s dedication and inspiration, the wall was rebuilt in only 52 days.
En esas circunstancias
Nehemías estableció un
sistema de vigilancia
para resguardar a los
constructores y los
arengó: —¡No les
tengan miedo!
Acuérdense del Señor,
que es grande y
temible, y peleen por
sus hermanos, por sus
hijos e hijas, y por sus
esposas y sus hogares.
Gracias a la dedicación
y la inspiración de
Nehemías, el muro se
reconstruyó en apenas
52 días.

7. The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A
widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The
judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but
this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with
her constant requests!’”
(Luke 18:1-8)
La parábola de la viuda y el juez injusto
Cierto día, Jesús les contó una historia a sus
discípulos para mostrarles que siempre debían orar
y nunca darse por vencidos.
«Había un juez en cierta ciudad —dijo—, que no
tenía temor de Dios ni se preocupaba por la gente.
Una viuda de esa ciudad acudía a él repetidas
veces para decirle: “Hágame justicia en este
conflicto con mi enemigo”. Durante un tiempo, el
juez no le hizo caso, hasta que finalmente se dijo a
sí mismo: “No temo a Dios ni me importa la gente,
pero esta mujer me está volviendo loco. Me
ocuparé de que reciba justicia, ¡porque me está
agotando con sus constantes peticiones!”».

8. Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So
don’t you think God will surely give justice to his children who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep
putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!”
Entonces el
Señor dijo:
«Aprendan una
lección de este
juez injusto. Si
hasta él dio un
veredicto justo
al final, ¿acaso
no creen que
Dios hará
justicia a su
pueblo
escogido que
clama a él día
y noche?
¿Seguirá
aplazando su
respuesta? Les
digo, ¡él pronto
les hará
justicia! »

9. www.freekidstories.org
Image Credits:
Page 1: Image copyright CEF; used under Creative Commons license
Page 2-3: Images courtesy of Mr BibleHead. Used under Creative Commons license
Page 4-6: Images copyright CEF; used under Creative Commons license
Pages 7-8: Art by Didier Martin
Text from the Bible and Activated magazine.